


Purgatory Online

by zcqb



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Eventual Smut, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Nicole is a badass and totally a top, No Curse, No Revenants, slow burn?, well not in the canon way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-08-31 08:09:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zcqb/pseuds/zcqb
Summary: Waverly has been staring at that stupid advertisement for three months. Three months, and it's ridiculous in the way that it draws her in. She keeps telling herself no, scolding herself for even thinking about jumping back into her old life when she's this busy.But she misses her friends, and she needs to relax. She deserves this.-AU where Waverly is a video game nerd and so is Nicole. They meet in-game in the world of Purgatory Online. Nicole is Waverly's knight in shining armor, and Waverly is, well, screwed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is kind of loosely based on WoW but it's pretty much the only experience I have with an MMO that I remember, so there you go. Also can you tell I'm a huge nerd?
> 
> Glossary of terms you might not understand is at the end of every chapter.

Waverly looked at the banner of the side of her screen. There it was, the same advertisement that had been taunting her for weeks, practically screaming at her to _play me, play me_.

Waverly was in her final year of university. There was no way, absolutely no way that she would have the time to devote to video games like she used to. And _Purgatory Online_ wasn’t just any video game - it was  _the_ video game. After coming out three months ago, already over twelve million players populated the servers. Waverly was dangerously at risk of making it twelve million and one.

She had read the reviews. She’d watched the countless streams of people playing it, sometimes clocking in over thirty-thousand concurrent viewers, the most popular YouTube videos reaching almost forty million. The game had taken the world by storm, and if it had come out two years ago, Waverly would be making her character right now and setting off into the world.

But she couldn’t. Her bachelor’s thesis was staring at her in the face, screaming even louder to _finish me, you lazy dick_. She only had four months left - four months, and then she could get a job in her field and video games could be her release again. So she ignored the ad and continued her research.

It wasn’t that she hated her degree - honestly, she loved it. Throughout her whole life, psychology was something that she’d always wanted to do. It was one of the only things that remained a constant. She’d studied hard in high school to get into UBC, but even then she could balance her studies and her gaming addiction. She just didn’t have much in the way of a social life. So no, she didn’t hate her degree. She just wished that she could be doing _anything_ other than the research side of psych right now. Waverly wanted to work with people - actual people - and help them. For now, she had to get through this.

About an hour later, a message blipped in the corner of her scream. One of her old gaming buddies was messaging her on Discord.

 **fish** : heya stranger

 **fish:** what r u doing rn

Waverly wanted to ignore it and carry on with her work. She needed to. Any distractions, and she’d be sucked back in. But at some point in her life, Fish had been one of her closest friends, and she missed him. She missed having her network of online family who, despite the distance, still managed to meet up in Seattle when Waverly had turned eighteen. She hated that she hadn’t talked to them for so long.

 **Waverly** : studying

 **Waverly** : why?

She watched as three little bubbles popped up as Fish typed his message.

 **fish** : i have something u might like :)

Curiosity got the better of her, and before Waverly could stop herself, she messaged him back.

 **Waverly** : what?

She waited for a minute, and as soon as she clicked back to her Chrome page full of boring but necessary research, Fish messaged her back.

There was a single picture of what looked like a game code on the back of a box.

 **fish** : levi bought PO for his birthday but i already bought it for him. we have a spare key and we miss u

Waverly struggled to think of a response. She wanted the key - after all, _Purgatory Online_ did cost sixty dollars, and Waverly didn’t exactly have money to just throw around. Her mom helped her with rent and such. Waverly’s dad ignored her, and Waverly ignored him, except for when every so often a few hundred dollars would appear in her account. She knew that it was probably just her mom shouting at him over the phone to help her out and pushing him to do so, but a small part of Waverly liked to think that maybe, a part of her dad wanted to help her. Wanted to see her succeed like he did with Willa.

 **Waverly** : can’t. :( sorry. maybe chrissy wants it

 **fish** : she already has it lol, we’ve all been playing together for a while

 **fish** : oh well, it’s always there if u want it

Waverly felt a pang of loneliness shoot through her heart, but closed the window anyway. She desperately missed her friends. The last time Waverly played with them was last Christmas, and it was already November. She remembered the days when they would talk every day, long into the night, until the sun had risen and red-rimmed eyes shut instantly as Waverly’s head hit her pillow, a lazy smile plastered on her face.

She read on and on, lines of text scrolling down her screen almost infinitely, her foot bouncing against the floor impatiently. Waverly wanted to play the game, wanted to get back into her old life, and now a door had been opened. She figured there would be no harm in downloading it - right? After all, she had saved and saved for this computer. It would be a shame to only use it for school. The large game file wouldn’t even make a dent in her hard drive - not even in her SSD.

It took her three hours, three hours full of deliberation and mulling over the pros and cons, of telling herself she could stop when she wanted to. How easy it would be to uninstall and quit, how she probably wouldn’t even like the game anyway. She convinced herself enough that she reopened Discord.

 **Waverly** : fuck it

 **Waverly** : what server are we playing on

 **fish** : ayyyy, levi owes me 10 bucks lol

 **fish** : i knew u’d cave eventually. u can take waverly out of the game but u can’t take the game out of waverly ;)

 **fish** : we’re playing on outlaw btw

Without hesitating, Waverly opened the game that had only finished downloading around two minutes prior. She watched the opening cinematic, the familiar pump of excitement burning through her veins, twitching at her wrist. She missed this, missed the feeling of entering head first into a new game and starting something fresh. Waverly scrolled down the list of servers, finding _US - Outlaw_ _(PVP)_ after about a minute of searching. There were so many goddamn servers she couldn’t help but laugh.

She created her character slowly, relishing in the impressive amount of detail offered by the game. The graphics were gorgeous, and the game’s score was beautiful, but she knew it was the intuitive gameplay and the storyline that fueled the hype behind PO. Finally, she settled on her character - an elf cleric with long brown hair and a cute, pixie-ish face. She joined the Peacemaker faction, the good guys. The other faction was called the Revenants, which were either ugly hellish beings or evil looking variants of the Peacemaker races. She didn’t have to ask Fish to know which faction they’d joined - from the beginning of their friendship they’d always played as the good guys. She named her character _Wavesly_ , a name she had used online for as long as she remembered, and was happy it hadn’t been taken yet.

 **fish** : are u in yet? we’re going to sleep

It was only 8:30 PM for Waverly, but for her friends on the east coast, it was approaching midnight.

 **Waverly** : yea i just finished making my character

 **Waverly** : sleep tight :) see u tomorrow maybe. i’ll see

 **fish** : i hope so, we all miss our mom friend :) sleep tight

Waverly smiled and watched as the intro cinematic played, the voice acting was crisp and clean and appropriate for the drama unfurling before her eyes, and instantly Waverly understood why so many people played this game. The storyline was compelling, the characters real and sympathizable, and the _music_ \- god, Waverly could feel goosebumps. She knew this was a bad idea, and the feeling only deepened with every level she gained, but she didn’t care. She deserved this.

About two hours later, Waverly had reached level ten, meaning she could go out into the open world and leave her starter village. She was excited to explore, having heard many things about how the game rewards you for going off the beaten path and finding things for yourself.

She set off in a direction and lasted about fifteen minutes before another player’s character, their name highlighted in red, popped out in front of her. They weren’t much higher of a level than she was, only level seventeen. Waverly had completely forgotten that the server she was playing on was a PvP server, meaning any character of the enemy faction could kill her if they choosed. She had also ignored the warnings that she was entering ‘enemy territory’, and only saw the warnings in her chat box now. Waverly tried running away, healing herself through every blow, and was close to dying before a much, much higher leveled character shot in and pretty much instantly decimated the dude.

There was a beat before Waverly could register what happened.

Her savior was a ginger human paladin who was clad in shiny armor from head to toe. Literally her knight in shining armor. She was much, _much_ higher leveled, her level reading one hundred. What she was doing in a starting zone, she didn’t know, but Waverly was thankful regardless.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : thank you!!!

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : No problem. :)

 

Waverly watched as Nicoladin started to heal Waverly’s character, casting a few spells and buffing Waverly’s character with ease.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Are you new? I can show you around.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : that would be great, thank you :)

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Ok. Right click my character and select ‘follow’. I’ll take you to the Peacemaker capital.

 

They walked to the capital, Waverly knowing full well that Nicoladin could get on her mount and get there much quicker, instead opting to slow down for Waverly’s sake. Waverly thought it was sweet.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : how long have you been playing?

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Since beta. I’ve been playing games ever since I was young, though.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : same :)

 **_Wavesly_** : well, not since beta obviously. but i used to play CoA pretty religiously

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Me too. I quit when PO came out. CoA is pretty outdated and the endgame kind of sucked.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : i agree, they barely ever came out with raiding content and only focused on PvP :(

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : You’ll like PO then.

 

After about twenty minutes, they reached a large fortress looking city, the turrets of the wall surrounding it peppered with blue flags flowing freely in the simulated wind.

The streets were busy with other players, the majority of them lower leveled like Waverly, and Waverly couldn’t help but notice the fact that there were barely any players at Nicoladin’s level, and certainly none of them had the same gear that she had. She heard a little _ding_ and a notification in her private messages.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Just curious. If you don’t like PvP, why are you on a PvP server?

 

She was thankful that Nicoladin had messaged her privately, otherwise her message would have been lost in the sheer amount of people talking in the public chat.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : friends play on this server

 **_Wavesly_** : my turn to be curious. are many people at the same level you are?

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : No. I reached max level last week. I’ve gotten lucky with my gear so far, but I was one of the first on the server to hit max. It gets harder from level twenty or so, so be careful.

 **_Nicoladin_** : My turn again.

 

Waverly could feel her lips curl up in a smile, excited by the prospect of making a new friend, and intrigued by Nicoladin’s expertise in the game.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : If your friends are playing on this server, why aren’t you levelling with them?

 

 **_Wavesly_** : they went to bed, i live on the west coast, they live on the east.

 **_Wavesly_** : i guess it’s my turn again

 

Waverly watched as Nicoladin led them to one of the shops lining the bustling streets of the city.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : I guess it is. This is the tailoring shop, by the way. You should probably pick up this profession seeing as you’re a cleric.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : will do, thanks for letting me know

 **_Wavesly_** : where do you live? east or west coast?

 

 _**Nicoladin** : _ Neither. My turn. What made you start playing PO only now? It’s been out for three months.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : hold on, you didn’t answer my question

 

Waverly furrowed her brow in confusion as she went through the steps for assigning tailoring as her primary profession. Where could she live if not on the east or west coast?

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Yes, I did. You just assumed I live on a coast. Now, answer my question.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : fine. I’ve been busy with university stuff, have been for the last year or so.

 _**Wavesly** : _ since you’re being pedantic, where exactly are you located in NA?

 

Waverly watched as Nicoladin took them to their next destination, navigating the winding streets like it was her hometown.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : Pedantic, huh? Harsh words, university girl.

 **_Nicoladin_** : Chicago. My turn again. What do you study?

 

They reached a large cathedral. Waverly watched as they entered it, passing the pews neatly arranged in rows, enjoying the little details carved into the cathedral walls and stained-glass windows that must’ve been painstakingly crafted by the developers over the years. They rounded the corner into a small offshoot room tucked away into the corner. Had Nicoladin not taken her there, she probably never would’ve found it.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : psychology, i’m in my final year

 **_Wavesly_** : eventually i want to work with disabled veterans

 

Waverly knew that Nicoladin hadn’t asked for the details, but gave them anyway. She enjoyed talking to her, she found it easy, and she enjoyed the light teasing between the two.

 

 **_Nicoladin_** : That’s really interesting. :)

 **_Nicoladin_** : My dad is a therapist, actually. If you enjoy it as much as he does, you’ll live a rewarding life.

 

Waverly felt a smile tug at her lips as she read the words, aware that Nicoladin was sharing more than asked too.

 

 _**Nicoladin** : _ By the way, go here for materials for being a priest - you’ll need it in the future. I was kind of guessing that you’d go that route, since being a Paladin is a little more aggressive and I figured you weren’t the type.

 

 **_Wavesly_** : hey, i can be aggressive >:(

 

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : Alright, then. Tell me I’m wrong.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : you’re not wrong.

 

Waverly watched as Nicoladin’s avatar laughed in game.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : my turn

 **_Wavesly_ ** : what’s your name irl

 

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : It wasn’t obvious? Nicole.

 

Waverly poked her tongue out as she typed her response. She really should have guessed that, but Waverly had seen less creative uses of people’s names and still had been oblivious. Hell, Levi’s is Levijeans, and Waverly still thought Levi was just a nickname for the first year of knowing him.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : i didn’t want to be rude and assume, like some people here

 

 **_Nicole_ ** : Touche. And your name is?

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : it wasn’t obvious? Waverly

 

 **_Nicole_ ** : Hahaha. Who’s rude now?

 

Waverly laughed under her breath, pleased that she had made Nicole laugh, happy that Nicole knew she was just teasing. Waverly was quickly enjoying their dynamic, more so than she had with anyone she had met in real life in the past year.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : guilty

 **_Wavesly_ ** : thank you for showing me around, btw

 

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : It’s really no problem. I should sleep soon.

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : Right click me and then select ‘add friend’. I’ve already added you.

 

Waverly did as she was told, surprised in part that it was already 11:30, but also surprised that Nicole had already added her.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : ok, done

 

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : You have one more question, just to let you know. Choose wisely :)

 

Waverly thought for a second about what her question would be before making her mind up embarrassingly quickly.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : will I see you tomorrow?

 

Tapping her fingers against her desk, Waverly was kind of worried about Nicole’s response. She didn’t want to come off too desperately. After all, they had only really been friends for an hour - if they were even friends. Sure they were in the game sense, literal ‘friends’ on each other’s ‘friends list’, but that didn’t mean that Nicole wanted to spend more time with her.

 

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : You can count on it.

 **_Nicoladin_ ** : Good night, Waverly.

 

 **_Wavesly_ ** : good night, nicole :)

 

Waverly watched as Nicole’s character faded out of the game, leaving Waverly alone in the cathedral that now seemed a lot larger than it had before. A steady trickle of players were darting in and out of the room, players that were much higher leveled than she was. She meandered around in the city, exploring the little alleyways and nooks and crannies that it had on offer, before opting to go out and continue the story.

She finished a few quests and leveled up a few times, but now she felt like something was missing. Before, she was perfectly content to play on her own, even though her friends were asleep. But now it felt like Waverly couldn’t focus if she didn’t have Nicole to distract her.

Waverly settled in a field and, after taking in the sight around her - yellow fields with mountain peaks peeking out in the distance - Waverly logged out.

She turned off her computer, settling into bed before it had fully turned off. The lights were off, and all that she could hear was the steady thrum of her computer before it clicked and stopped. Waverly closed her eyes, that same lazy smile from years ago once again taking its rightful place on Waverly’s face, and for the first time in a year, Waverly felt that same excitement again.

It scared the hell out of her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, sorry, i'm very very bad at updating. i'm sick atm tho so of course i chose to write. not sure if there's a lot to put in the glossary here, but if anyone is confused on what something means, please ask and i'll update it pronto!! thank you for all your kind comments, you are all cinnamon rolls who i love very much. <3

Waverly was pacing around the wood floor of her bedroom in her tiny studio apartment. Her phone was placed to her ear, Wynonna talking about something that she honestly wasn’t one hundred percent focused on. Waverly was too preoccupied with figuring out how she would manage to finish her work for today and still somehow find the time to play PO again.

“Waves? You there?” Wynonna’s voice sounded out from her iPhone speaker.

“Yeah, sorry, what’s up?” Waverly replied apologetically.

“I was asking what you were wearing to Willa’s wedding.” Wynonna repeated. In the background, Waverly could hear her struggling with something, the sound of metal scraping against metal barely audible.

“Same as you, right?” Waverly presumed. When Wynonna didn’t reply, and the scraping noise stopped, Waverly’s heart sank as realization washed over her. “You're not a bridesmaid, are you?” Waverly could hear Wynonna breathing out softly.

“I thought you knew,” Wynonna’s voice was so soft, so sympathetic, Waverly just wanted to reach through her phone and cuddle up to her favourite sister like she used to when they were younger. “Willa told me you knew.” Her voice was harder now.

“No,” Waverly choked out through a sob, aware now that she was crying. Willa had told her, ever since they were kids, that her and Wynonna would be her bridesmaids since she couldn’t pick a maid of honor - it broke something inside of her that the pact could be changed without any regard for Waverly's feelings. “So you’re her maid of honor?”

There was silence from Wynonna’s end and Waverly could hear rustling in the background, then a zip of a jacket. “Yeah. Waves, I’m sorry, I’m going to go talk to her and tell her what an asshole she’s being,” Even over the phone, Waverly could tell that Wynonna was speaking through a clenched jaw and gritted teeth. “We’ll talk later. Love you.”

Silence.

Waverly gathered herself up, feeling significantly more wilted than she had prior to the conversation, and headed to her computer. She really should work. Maybe it would distract her from her latest family drama. Waverly went to open up the word document containing all her research, but she knew that if she tried to work, her heart wouldn’t be in it. She’d rather not work at all than do half-assed work and make more work for her future self with all the mistakes.

It was a bad excuse, but it was good enough to convince Waverly to open up Purgatory Online.

She watched in anticipation as the game screen loaded, a little nagging sensation at the back of her mind telling her that she won’t enjoy the game as much in her upset state, that she’ll be too distracted. Waverly tried unsuccessfully to tamp down on her anxiety and logged in.

 

_Wavesly - Level 13_

_Elf Cleric_

_US - Outlaw_

 

Waverly clicked on her familiar character and pressed enter on her keyboard. A few seconds later, the game world materialized in front of her, and Waverly heard a small ding and a flash in the bottom left of her screen.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Hey you.

 

Waverly smiled, and instantly that anxiety she tried to abate melted away. Those two words meant more than they did on surface level, and the speed at which Nicole had sent them made a warmth spread out over Waverly’s chest. It’d been a long time since Waverly had felt like she finally had something to look forward to, and here it was, ready and available. Most importantly, it was distracting.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** well hey there :)

 **_Wavesly:_ ** you messaged me awfully quick, haha. should I be worried, or flattered?

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Flattered, definitely. I’m far too well-adjusted to be a stalker.

 

Waverly bit down on her lip, unsure if she should say what she was about to say. She bit the bullet and typed it out, her fingers typing out whatever her stream of consciousness was dictating.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** hmm, I’m not too sure

 **_Wavesly:_ ** i’ll need proof you’re not an 85 year old man with a fetish for poor, stressed out university students

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Definitely not an 85 year old man. Jury’s still out on the fetish.

 

Waverly stifled a laugh and hammered out her next response.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** still waiting on that proof, nicole

 **_Wavesly:_ ** if that even is your real name

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** You got me. It’s actually Harold.

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** I’ll be right back.

 

Waverly didn’t bother holding back her laugh this time, and waited for a few seconds before a different notification sound caught her attention. She went to check Discord and noticed Fish had sent her a message.

 

 **fish:** well well well

 **fish:** if it isn’t my friendly neighbourhood waverly

 

 **Waverly:** heya :)

 

 **fish:** how u

 

 **Waverly:** i’ve been better lol

 

Waverly took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Damn it. She had just started to get her mind off of the whole wedding debacle, and now Fish just had to go and be a good friend and care about her. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about it - in fact, if she was going to talk about it with anyone, strangely enough she would’ve picked Fish. He always seemed to know what to say to cheer her up. That happened after knowing someone for so long.

 

 **fish:** whats up?

 **fish:** uni problems?

 

 **Waverly:** surprisingly, no. all’s good on that front so far

 **Waverly:** my sister’s getting married and i was assuming i’d be a bridesmaid with my sister but i’m not

 

 **fish:** oh damn

 **fish:** i don’t know if i’m more surprised that wynonna’s treating u like shit or that she’s getting married lol

 

Waverly laughed before having her attention taken away from Discord and focused instead on her game. Nicole had seemingly returned, already sending her messages that without even reading yet already sent Waverly’s heart into a frenzy. She was excited about the prospect of a new friend, of course. That must be it.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Pizza is the best thing ever. I think I’ll name my first born Deep Dish.

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Is that child cruelty?

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Imagine all the free pizza I’d get though.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** hmmm, not sure. i’d have to do a study

 **_Wavesly:_ ** hold on for a sec tho

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Sure thing. I’m gonna eat and watch Netflix. If I don’t respond, I’m in a food coma.

 

Waverly bit her lip to stop from laughing before flicking back to Discord.

 

 **Waverly:** sorry, back

 **Waverly:** no, this is willa

 

 **fish:** ohhhh right, i forgot about that one

 **fish:** ok that’s a lot less surprising. should’ve thought about that in hindsight

 **fish:** what are you going to do?

 

 **Waverly:** honestly i have no idea

 **Waverly:** wynonna is going to go talk to her but :/ probably nothing will come out of it

 **Waverly:** we’re earps. once we get our minds set on something it’s pretty difficult to change them

 

Waverly let out a small laugh, remembering a time when they were younger, when everything wasn’t so muddy yet. When Willa and Dad still lived with the family and they were happy. The family was going to this fancy dinner, one where everyone needed to be presentable, which meant nice dresses, hair done up pretty, and forced smiles everywhere. ‘Happy’ may not have been the right word to use - they seemed happy on the outside, a perfect family that everyone was so shocked to see implode like it did; but on the inside the implosion could’ve been seen from a mile away. 

Wynonna, of course, objected to the dinner completely. She was thirteen; just getting to the age of rebellion. Willa, who Waverly guessed must’ve been around fifteen at the time, lived for dinners like this. Waverly was seven. She just went along with whatever she was told, because saying no wasn’t an option with her Dad, and certainly not with Willa.

Willa had spent hours preening and dressing up Waverly. She was forced to wear some blue floral dress, one that matched Willa’s in general style, but of course Willa’s was more ornate. That was just the way it was. When the time came to leave, Wynonna stepped out in a leather jacket and jeans. Dad was livid. Willa was, too. Mom took Waverly aside and told her that if she ever wasn’t comfortable with what she was wearing, or how she looked, to tell her and she’d understand. She’d fix it. Waverly nodded.

Countless uncomfortable nights later, Waverly didn’t say anything until Mom left and took Waverly and Wynonna with her.

 

 **fish:** ah but that’s what makes you so great

 **fish:** how is wynonna anyway

 

 **Waverly:** she’s good. idk, we don’t talk too much

 **Waverly:** obviously way more than we used to but not as much as i’d like

 

 **fish:** yeah, does she ever talk about that? like, her basically dropping off the face of the earth without saying anything

 **fish:** kind of extreme

 

 **Waverly:** you’re telling me.

 **Waverly:** sometimes she’ll kind of start talking about it but it clearly makes her uncomfortable so i don’t pry

 **Waverly:** i think she feels guilty. i understand though, i would too

 

 **fish:** makes sense

 **fish:** do u want to play tho cuz i have a few hours to kill

 

Waverly knew Fish would make her feel better. Now, the ache and conflict battling it out in Waverly’s head was simmering down, reduced to a squabble.

 

 **Waverly:** yeah but i’m sort of busy with someone

 **Waverly:** met her last night when u ABANDONED me

 

 **fish:** sheesh drama queen. now who’s abandoning who

 **fish:** is she cool at least

 

 **Waverly:** super cool

 **Waverly:** her name is nicole and she’s crazy high leveled

 

 **fish:** woah woah woah

 **fish:** wait a min

 **fish:** are u referring to the (wo)man, the myth, the legend nicoladin???

 

Waverly felt her eyebrow quirk up. Had she unknowingly been making friends with a ‘legend’?

 

 **Waverly:** uh yeah

 **Waverly:** you know her?

 

 **fish:** lol everyone knows her

 **fish:** everyone who plays PO at least. she’s like this crazy awesome badass, leads the best guild in the game - like seriously you need to nolife this game to get in it

 **fish:** how did u meet her u’ve played for like 10 minutes

 

 **Waverly:** actually i’ve played for a few hours so don’t be too jealous

 **Waverly:** she saved my life, i totally forgot we were on a pvp server and i nearly died but she swooped in and stomped him

 **Waverly:** then we just sort of started talking, she’s super nice

 

 **fish:** ok well u go and have fun with ur e-gf and we’ll talk later when u can

 

 **Waverly:** she’s not my e-girlfriend but thank you and yes we will. have fun also

 

Waverly shook her head and clicked back onto her game, idling slowly in the background. She hadn’t even realized that she’d been listening to the game music the entire time, the dulcet tones of the expertly crafted score lifting her spirit unconsciously. It’d been about thirty minutes since she talked to Nicole last. Waverly hoped she was still online, but knowing now how busy Nicole was with in-game things, Waverly would be surprised if she even made time for her.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** hello

 **_Wavesly:_ ** sorry about that, i was catching up with an old friend

 

Waverly’s doubts were quashed when she saw Nicole’s reply come in almost as soon as she had hit enter.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Hello again.

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** That’s fine :) How’d it go?

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** well i learned a lot

 **_Wavesly:_ ** like how you’re, in his words, a ‘legend’

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Ah.

 

Waverly was a little nervous from Nicole’s short sentence. To make matters worse, Nicole didn’t follow up with anything for a good minute or so. Maybe Waverly had scared her off - maybe Nicole liked that someone was friends with her without knowing who she was, or maybe she thought Waverly was going to act different now that she knew. Whatever the case, Waverly didn’t want to lose someone who she got along so well with - not to something this superficial.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Does that bother you?

 

Waverly was surprised that Nicole messaged first, but she wasn’t complaining. Her heartbeat picked up a little bit at the words - was Nicole nervous too?

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** no, why would it?

 **_Wavesly:_ ** honestly i think it’s really cool and tbh i’m a little intimidated haha.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Intimidated? Why?

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** well i mean you’re this really awesome guild leader and you probably have a lot of responsibilities and if my friend knew who you were without me even saying your name, you probably have a pretty big reputation

 **_Wavesly:_ ** again, in his words, you’re a ‘badass’

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Hahaha, hardly.

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Thank you though.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** no problem :)

 **_Wavesly:_ ** why would it bother me tho

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** It’s a long story.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** i have time

 

It was Waverly’s turn to surprise herself with the speed at which she typed her last message. She wanted to know more about Nicole, everything that made her herself.

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Do you have Skype? I don’t feel like typing it all out.

 

 **_Wavesly:_ ** i do but i also have discord if that’s easier

 **_Wavesly:_ ** Waverly#1965

 

 **_Nicoladin:_ ** Okay, I’ll add you. I’ll call you pretty much as soon as you accept, so get ready.

 

Waverly didn’t know why she was nervous, but she was. She cleared her throat, making sure her voice wasn’t weird. She even spoke a few words out loud, feeling absolutely ridiculous as she did, but she knew how important first impressions were. Opening up Discord, Waverly saw a notification indicating that she had a friend request. Sure enough, Nicole had added her. She clicked accept, and true to her word again, Nicole called pretty much instantly after. 

“Hello?” Nicole’s voice was clear through Waverly’s headphones.

“Hi,” Waverly spoke quietly, almost in a whisper. She cleared her throat, feeling annoyed that her little exercises had been in vain, and tried again. “Hi. Sorry, my voice gets weird after I haven’t spoken in a while.”

“That’s fine. At least now I know you’re not some creep on the internet.” Nicole joked. Waverly laughed softly.

“Yep. And now I can stop calling you Harold, unless you’re into that.” Waverly joked back. She heard a peal of laughter from the other end, and just like that, Waverly’s blood pumped through her veins so hard she thought she’d have an aneurysm. Her face went warm, and she was sure a blush was creeping up her neck. Her face instantly shot up into a grin at the sound.

“Can’t say that I am, but thanks for checking,” Nicole quipped. Her voice was so smooth, Waverly thought, and she wanted to turn down the game music just to hear it more. “Good to know you won’t kinkshame me.”

“I’d never,” Waverly replied in mock surprise. After their laughter died down, Waverly decided to press. “So. The long story.”

A pause.

“Ah. Right,” Nicole started. Her voice was shaky at first, but found its bearing in time. “The long story. Well, basically, I met someone a long time ago, back when I played CoA. She was a lot like you, I guess. New to the game, funny, intriguing. We became friends really fast. Looking back, a little too fast, but mistakes like that are meant to be made sometimes.”

Waverly made a knowing noise of agreement, aware that Nicole was talking about her.

“I fell for her. Hard. She had no idea,” Nicole took a moment, and Waverly thought she could hear her laughing softly, before Nicole continued. “No idea that I was in love with her, and no idea that my life was pretty much dominated by CoA. I wanted to be the best. I put in so many hours into that game, and none of it mattered when I was with her. All I focused on was her. I was slipping, and my guild leader found out about her after I told my friend that I was thinking about quitting.

“At the time, I was a streamer. Kind of big, a thousand viewers every stream or so. My… fanbase, I guess, pretty much only watched me because they thought I was hot. I’d say ninety percent watched to watch me, and the other ten watched to actually watch me play. It wasn’t very dignified, but I made decent money off of it, and the ten percent made it manageable. If they found out I was gay, it would’ve been hell. Seriously. Either they would’ve been even more creepy, or they would’ve sent me hate. I wouldn’t be able to take it.

“I told her that I loved her and she took it better than I ever could’ve expected. For a month, it was great. I was silently starting to prepare for quitting, which meant applying for real life jobs, finding replacements for my position in the guild, etcetera. I was even looking for jobs closer to her.

“She found out. I don’t know how, probably my guild leader, but she found out, and she freaked. She had been led to believe that I had been streaming all our conversations, even some of the more - um - personal, ones. Somehow, my stream also found out, too. And whatever they sent to me, they sent to her ten times harder. They sent her so much shit. She was crying so hard, the whole time. All I remember was her crying.

“I, of course, got pissed off at my stream and sort of broke down. I think there’s a YouTube video of it, if you look hard enough. I got a lot of them taken down, but you know how the Internet is. Nothing’s ever truly gone. I quit gaming for a while and when Purgatory Online came out, I thought, hey, it’s been years, no one will remember me. So I guess when you said I was a legend, or whatever, it freaked me out. I thought you were talking about the break down, not the other thing.”

Nicole took a deep breath and Waverly was quiet for a few moments. There was a lot running through her mind, she wasn’t sure how to play this. Nicole had just bared her soul to her, and Waverly didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying something stupid, so she had to pick her words carefully.

“That sucks,” Waverly blurted out. Careful was set on fire and thrown out of the thirtieth story window. Nicole snorted. “I mean, uh, it - God, I’m really bad at this.”

“You’re a psychologist.” Nicole joked, her voice in disbelief.

“A psychology degree does not a therapist make,” Waverly replied. “Sorry. You were so honest and I just - I need a second to sort of gather my thoughts. But it doesn’t freak me out, Nicole. Not a bit.”

“Good,” Nicole said, and Waverly could hear her exhale with relief. “I was worried. And when I said you were like her, by the way, I didn’t mean that I’m going to fall in love with you, too.” Waverly laughed at Nicole’s rushed tone, as if she had just realized the implication of what she said, the same blush adorning her face again.

“Promise?” Waverly joked back.

  
“Promise.”

There was a moment Waverly could swear was more charged than any moment she’d had in her life up to this point, and she wasn’t even face to face with Nicole. Waverly opened her mouth to say something, anything, but was interrupted by a droning noise sounding out from her pocket. She pulled out her phone to see Wynonna’s grimacing face calling her.

“Hey, I gotta go, my sister is calling me,” Waverly said in an apologetic tone. “But we’ll talk soon, okay?”

“Alright,” Nicole replied. “I have some stuff to do, anyway. I forgot how busy being a guild leader can be. So much drama. That’s a story for another time, though.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Waverly smiled, sincerity pouring out of her voice in waves. “See you.”

“Bye, Waverly.” Nicole spoke, and Waverly hung up. She quickly accepted Wynonna’s call.

“Wow, took you long enough,” Wynonna’s teasing tone was in stark contrast to Nicole’s soft voice. “I thought all you did was study and sleep.”

“Very funny,” Waverly rolled her eyes, but really she was happy that Wynonna was joking around. In the beginning, when she had just come back, Wynonna had been so careful with Waverly that their old witty banter was practically erased from every interaction they had. Waverly was so glad it was back. Wynonna without snark was like pizza without a base. “What’s up?”

“I went to go shout at Willa for a bit. Who would’ve thought that living in the same city as her would actually be desirable,” Wynonna spat out. Waverly could tell that she was talking through clenched teeth. “Anyway, she was in total bridezilla mode, shouting about centerpieces or whatever her priorities are these days. You can imagine how angry she got when I told her I wasn’t going to be her maid of honor.”

Waverly’s face lit up like New Years’ was on the Fourth of July. “How did she - you - what? How?”

“I told her I couldn’t be her maid of anything if you weren’t okay with it. I said I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be a bridesmaid,” Wynonna explained. “I hate the frilly dresses and the pomp and the circumstance.” Waverly grinned. Some things never changed.

“So she just let you go?” Waverly asked, certain that Willa wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“I kind of guilt tripped her, to be honest. I told her the wedding was about more than just her, it was about reuniting us three. We haven’t been sisters for a long time, not all of us,” Wynonna’s voice was softer now, and Waverly could tell that despite her outward anger towards Willa, Wynonna really did love her. “After that she sort of got quiet and I just left.”

“Well, thank you,” Waverly breathed out. “Really. It means a lot.”

“You know I love you, right?” Wynonna replied. “I’d do anything if it meant I could make up for being a shithead before."

“I love you too,” Waverly couldn’t even think about who Wynonna was before. She was so different, so much more mature, so much calmer. “No matter what. Shitty head and all.”

“Awkward visual there, but I’ll take it,” Wynonna joked, and the two of them laughed. “I have plans that I’m already late for, so I need to go, sorry. I’ll see you in February.”  
“See you in February.” Waverly ended the call and, with a newfound surge of motivation, opened up her work. She had every intention of kicking university’s ass and having a good time doing it, and this was a start.

**Author's Note:**

> Some stuff that if you don't play video games you might not know:
> 
> Discord - kind of like a chat with servers you set up and talk with your friends on. You can call all your friends from there and have a grand old time.  
> SSD - solid state drive. basically a really fast hard drive that loads games so much faster than a hard drive can. kind of expensive tho  
> PvP - player vs. player. In the open world, any enemy character can kill you  
> Beta - unfinished version of the game that is open for testing  
> CoA - doesn't exist. i made it up  
> Raiding - large-scale assaults on bosses and such
> 
> Classes:  
> Cleric - basic healer class  
> Paladin - healer class that can also kick your ass  
> Priest - cleric 2.0


End file.
